Second Elevated Living Video Brings the Brutal Art of Highrise Condo Marketing to New Heights, Faster

The mysterious promoter of a proposed trio of condo towers planned for undisclosed Houston locations has posted a second video talking up the vague project — and dissing other condo developers almost every step of the way. But unlike the original video, which aims to get prospective buyers to sign up for a mailing list by flashing images of condos in other cities and counting off extensive amenities like “a fleet of cars” and an indoor pet park, this new marketing effort is aimed at Realtors.

But did someone complain that promising to be able to build a 36-story highrise condo tower (or 3) in just 12 months sounds kinda unrealistic? Because the new video (embedded above) doubles down on that original claim, taking up a good quarter of the almost-5-minute monologue to explain how it’s totally doable (the “William’s Tower” and some unidentified building in China are offered as examples) — while pointing out how other Houston developers are taking so much longer with their projects. Students of marketing psychology (or of the psychology of marketers) will clearly want to preserve these videos — and the entire sales-before-construction effort — for future study.

I’d be interested to see how the permitting is going to work. It’s a process – and despite what some people think, Houston is not a free for all. It’s true we don’t have a zoning ordinance to comply with and we don’t have historic preservation hearings, but we do have plenty of rules and, for he most part, they are enforced.
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That said, I wish they hadn’t included the 6 month thing from China. We’ve all heard about the building collapses and trapped workers in that country. Some rich guy apparently built himself a mountain summit on the top of a luxury high rise in China, but they didn’t beef up the building structure to handle it – all of the other tenants had to be evacuated. If they threw up a high rise in China in 6 months, I have serious questions about how safe that building really is.

What a scam. Before the building is even started they want you to buy a unit…. and start making payments. Id like to see anybody try to get their money back. The quality of construction is no doubt going to be very low… Infact there are so many problems with “these fantacy” towers I don’t know where to begin.

As a real estate practitioner, the biggest red flag for me is the 4% commission they are offering right out of the gate. To me at least, that screams conflict of interest. It reminds me of of the various builders in the area who offer a large BTSA (bonus to selling agent) to move their unsold inventory. In Layman’s terms (sorry for the pun) it’s called an adverse compensation structure.

When you start seeing $*%&t like this, along with all of the “you can be a real estate investor flipper too” radio ads, you know a top is near.

@Aaron Layman, ah yes, the return of “you too can be a real estate investor” ads. We all know how the fluff and flip business turned out back in the 1980s, both for individuals and TX savings and loans foolish enough to play the game. Deja vu, man.